WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER SHOW UP TO A ROOFING PARTY IN A KILT.
I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN WHEN ALL OF HIS BEST MEN WERE WEARING KILTS AT THE WEDDING AND WE WERE IN KILTS FOR HIS BACHELOR PARTY that someday this guy would come back to make me rethink “ when is to many helpers, one to many.
This young man is actually a relative of mine. The son of my First cousin Michael who was a very good high school wrestler. Who Married his highschool sweetheart and raised this guy who became very active in the scout troop that I have been a part of for over 50 years. As the story goes, I had decided to go into the Landscaping and Nursery business. Although I originally never planned on being a retail company, Our very visible location on a major road in Evansville changed all that. While needing plants and materials for our landscape crews. It was almost immediate that people driving by found themselves in our nursery wanting to buy. Since I was very young I always had a hard time saying no. So before I could turn around., Schroeder’s landscapes were suddenly Schroeders Landscapes.. With the love of building waterscapes, we eventually became Schroeder’s Landscape and Aquatic Nursery. A long way from the early days of Just, Custom Mowing service.
So as our business grew from a company that started with an old Pickup truck and 2 push mower and a tractor cutting commercial and residential properties, we had grown into a full blown landscaping company with a few extra nuances, particularly ways of keeping ourselves busy in the winter time by pushing snow and cleaning litho ovens in several different states. But I digress
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The crazy moment in question was all brought on by a group of friends of mine that all decided to help me out by putting a new roof on my office building on a sunny and warm Saturday in the summer during a busy retail day, The group was a fun loving variety of friends who mainly were the same guys who helped run a Boyscout and Venture crew of one of the most successful troop I would dare say in the nation. A troop that has been around since the early 1950’s that has served the westside of Evansville for several generations. The kind of guys who were always there to lend a hand but also enjoyed playing as hard as they worked. The day was fairly easy due to the large number of helpers and the small amount of roofing on the North side of the office building.
In a couple hours in the morning the old roof was off and with materials readily available it was just a few hours to install the shingles and with a little luck we could be all enjoying a late lunch with a number of our wives helping out..
So we were heading down the stretch.but I did notice some time earlier we had been joined by one of our younger participants.who came to help. We all knew this guy as Arron and we also are not totally surprised that his attire for the day was his kilt that he wore very proudly on many occasions.
Seeing everyone working like a well oiled machine I couldn’t help but realize just how lucky I was to have such a great group of friends who were always there to lend a helping hand, and the frivolity and amusement was never lacking with these men and stunts like our friend in the kilt kept us on the lighter side of life..
As we were nearing completion It did occur to me that I was multitasking with not only the roof project, but also the landscape nursery was staying quite busy, but thankfully I had an experienced staff who knew how to keep things going without the need to have me pay much attention to what was going on.
However I suddenly heard over the loudspeaker that I was needed in my office. Unaware of what it could be, I quickly changed my mental state from roof builder/jokester to landscape owner/office boy only to see a very interesting look on my manager Ronda’s face. As I looked at her trying to figure out what was going on in her mind. She gave me that little smile that said” this one is just for you.” She explained that there was a customer in my office that insisted on talking to me. And only me. As I entered through my door I was met by an elderly lady sitting near my desk with an expression that looked like a woman who had seen a ghost… and she didn’t like ghosts..
I sat down behind my desk while introducing myself and asked a little hesitantly how iI could help her..Often these surprise visits are to ask for a discount or a need for a donation or to help a weary boy scout.with his Eagle Project. This time …not even close. “Mr Schroeder she started I just want to let you know that I feel it is very very inappropriate that as I am looking for plants for my landscape garden, I should be embarrassed to look up on your roof today “ while minding my own business and, ah, well I have to see one of your workers was wearing nothing under his skirt, or dress or whatever he had on. I can’t tell you how uncomfortable that made me feel.. Yep. I did not see that coming and the look on her face was not one of laughter, understanding, or compromise. “ I just feel that the last thing I needed to see today was a man’s manhood so close to a public retail center. And I felt you needed to know!!!.
Of course she was right. I did need to know and she had every right to complain. But as my mind raced to communicate what I was thinking I felt once again I was in the middle of something that has been proved to me time and again…that God definitely has a sense of humor. But why is it always directed towards me?
I have always said that a sincere apology is usually the best way to go and for our world to continue on the right path, acceptance and forgiveness will move us all in the right direction. Now, there are a million Attorneys that will disagree with me on this. A sincere apology will show fault and do not show fault, until you talk to us so that…… , but I do not waiver. And in this instance a sincere apology was really all I had.. I explained to her{ the rest of the story} of how these great friends of mine came to my rescue and If I had any idea that my wardrobe malfunctioning friend would put me in a speechless conversation like this, I would have at least kept him on the ground vs 15 feet above my faithful customers. But at this point all I could do is beg forgiveness and give her all the azaleas she wished to purchase along with a cubic yard of Mulch. “ Rhonda, and if there is anything else Ms, Reddenface would like please put it on my tab” she quietly thanked me and as she left to go out into the nursery yard she kept her eyes down as my staff took care of her needs. It wasn’t long before word got around that along with plants and landscape materials Schroeder’s also sold Scottish flashings, ie (other Braveheart salutes, kiltish surprises). The roofing crew suddenly became so distracted that the last 10 minutes now took an hour and a new historical moment would forever be recorded.
Arron was all smiles, and The last thing I would get from him was an apology, yes this was a man who had a free spirit and was not shy to show it. I only wish he could have shown it to another group at another location., So the roof was finished and the gang worked their way down to the feast the girls had prepared and as the cold beers were drunk we all once again began our ritual of sharing the stories of today and toasted the man in the kilt. They always ask the question, wondering what is under a Scottish kilt but for this group the answer was given by a elderly woman who probably never thought her trip to a landscape nursery would include, not a “Fiddler on the Roof”, but instead a Roofer whose fiddle was free and clear of underwear.
Side note, though it can not be confirmed, stories have been shared that the surprised lady did return the next weekend, and though she did not buy anything her car load of 4 other lady friends did ask the assistant manager when we were going to be repairing the south side of the roof? Having no Idea, he said as they left he was a bit surprised that it appeared they had a set of folding chairs in the back of the vehicle. As the old ballad goes. Strange things happen in this World”
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After 30 years of serving the public, this is why the golf course will be private..
John M Schroeder